COBRA Update – Official Answer On Rebates

Question: I am eligible for the premium reduction and have been enrolled in COBRA coverage since before the ARRA’s enactment. Can I get a refund of 65% of the premiums I have paid prior to the law’s enactment?

Answer: No. The premium reduction provisions apply only to premiums for coverage periods beginning on or after February 17, 2009. If you were eligible for the reduction but paid in full for periods of COBRA coverage beginning on or after February 17, 2009, you should contact the plan administrator or employer sponsoring the plan to discuss a credit against future payments (or a refund in certain circumstances)

If you have specific questions about your situation and how these new rules apply to you, you may wish to speak with one of our Benefits Advisors by calling 1.866.444.3272. You should also check the COBRA Premium Reduction FAQs.

COBRA Refunds

We’ve gotten word that with recent changes to the COBRA regulations, if you took advantage of Heller’s very small COBRA window, you may be entitled to a refund. 

http://businessinsure.about.com/b/2009/02/18/more-on-the-cobra-premium-subsidy-in-the-arra.htm

You may want to contact PayFlex or WageWorks if you made a COBRA payment as part of your continued coverage.

Did You Receive a COBRA Packet From PayFlex?

I was first alerted to this COBRA info from an astute ex-Hellerite in New York who scanned a copy and sent it my way.  It was only several days later that I received my own packet from PayFlex.

From what others have told me, none of us qualify for this and that it may be just a formality that PayFlex has to go through in order to comply with HIPAA and COBRA notification laws.  

If you have any other information please feel free to add in the Comments section.

Heller Ehrman 2008 Benefit Costs

There was a request from a reader via comments to post the “2007 Open Enrollment Form.”  I’m assuming this was the form distributed in October 2007 for 2008 benefits.

Unfortunately, as a California employee, I only have two sheets which show the benefits costs for 2008 California employee benefits.  The links are below.

If any reader as a copy of the benefits costs for the other offices, we’d greatly appreciate it if you could scan them and then email them to me at hellerdrone@gmail.com for posting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Clarification on Flexible Spending Account Deadlines

Although the information was contained in a previous post, I want to break out the information in deadline format since the March 31, 2009 does not apply to most of us – the deadlines may be as soon as this week!

If you have reimbursable medical expenses, they must have occurred while you were still employed by Heller.  And – this is the important part - you must submit health carereimbursement account claims within 90-days of the date on which your employment ended.

This means if you were terminated on October 10, 2008, your deadline is January 10, 2009 – this Saturday!  If you were terminated on October 17, 2008 your deadline is January 17, 2009.

Reminder – 2008 Flexible Spending Account Plan Claim Submission Deadline!

The following information was received from Paul Sugarman via e-mail overnight.  I am re-posting here, along with the forms, for those who may not be on the e-mail list.

Wageworks Health Care Reimbursement Claim Form:
http://hellerdrone.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/wageworks-health-care-reimbursement-claim-form.pdf

Wageworks Dependent Care Reimbursement Claim Form:
http://hellerdrone.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/wageworks-dependent-care-reimbursement-claim-form.pdf

To Heller Ehrman Former Employees:

If you were a participant in the Firm’s Flexible Spending Account Plan, your participation automatically ended on the date your employment with the Firm ended.  The rules are different for the deadlines that apply to the submission of requests for reimbursement of Dependent Care and Health Care expenses. 

Health Care Reimbursement Claims: Health care expenses you incurred after your employment with the Firm ended will not be reimbursed, unless you elected to continue to make contributions to the Plan on an after-tax basis pursuant to the provisions of the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (“COBRA”).  This election opportunity was provided to you in the COBRA election packet you received from PayFlex.  If you did not elect COBRA continuation coverage for your health care reimbursement account, reimbursable expenses are limited to those you incurred while employed by the Firm, and you must submit health care reimbursement account claims within 90-days of the date on which your employment ended or by March 31, 2009, whichever date is earlier.  Thus, if you did not elect to participate in the Plan after you left the Firm’s employ and your last date of employment was October 15,2008, you must submit claims for reimbursement of health care expenses incurred on or before October 15, 2008 no later than 90 days after your last date of employment.

Dependent Care Reimbursement Claims: You must submit dependent care reimbursement account claims no later than March 31, 2009.  You will only be reimbursed from your dependent care reimbursement account if you had a positive balance in the account when your employment terminated.  You may also be reimbursed for eligible dependent care expenses you incurred during the remainder of the Plan Year in which your employment ended from amounts that you contributed prior to your termination of employment.

Please complete the attached forms to submit your claims and fax to WageWorks at 877-353-9236.  If you have any questions, please contact Cheryl Vance at cheryl.vance@hellerehrman.com.

COBRA Update

Well folks here we are at the middle of the month, and only now are some people finding out about COBRA. In my post of 10/29/2008, an interesting comment came in which I want to highlight:

“I finally got my Cobra packet today – Nov. 14. It had a premium amount for Kaiser and something called HDHP. Of course there was no information about VSP. But I got lucky when Cheryl Vance (firmwide benefits) returned my phone call! She said the HDHP is an error anda to ignore it. She said if I want to include VSP coverage, to write it in and the monthly fee is about 8 bucks. I just ordered new glasses – wow, are they expensive nowadays – and my savings with VSP was about 50%. So I definitely needed to have VSP coverage at least through Nov. 30. If anyone else is interested in keeping VSP, just write it in and the cost for one month (single) is $8.12.”

Please tell us your experiences with COBRA and whether or not you’ve received your informational packet.  And while the cost for Kaiser or CIGNA might be through the roof, it might be worth it to pay the VSP portion and go get those new glasses you’ve been putting off.

Important Benefits Announcement 10/29/08

This was posted on the Heller Ehrman external website.  Can someone clarify whether this means those of us terminated on 10/10/2008 and 10/17/2008 are covered through November?

Update: I wanted to excerpt this from the comments since it seems to be spot on in terms of whether or not you are covered, and in what manner, if you were terminated on 10/10 or 10/17:

1) Health insurance coverage from Heller is provided on a monthly basis, and when employment is terminated (voluntarily or otherwise) you continued to be covered through the end of that calendar month.

Corollary a: Anyone terminated 10/10 or 10/17 would be covered and paid through for 10/31.

(2) For coverage to extend after the calendar month of termination, you must elect for coverage through COBRA. The firm must offer you the option of remaining covered under your current plan, so long as that plan exists.

Corollary b: Any terminated employee, to be covered from 11/1 through 11/30, must elect COBRA. In any event the cost must be borne by the employee.

Corollary c: COBRA coverage through Cigna will no longer be available after 11/30, since the plan won’t exist anymore.

Corollary d: COBRA coverage through Kaiser may continue to be available after 11/30, but Heller might not know when it will expire until 30 days beforehand.

Health Insurance

Coverage provided under our group health insurance plans with Kaiser and CIGNA remains in effect, including COBRA coverage available through those plans. Over the past month we have engaged in extensive negotiations with CIGNA that were complicated by the fact that the firm owes CIGNA a substantial amount of money. Those negotiations resulted in an agreement — reached earlier this afternoon — whereby CIGNA consented to continue health insurance coverage in force for all plan participants but only through November 30, 2008. We do not expect CIGNA to agree to continued coverage on a group basis beyond that date. Termination of the CIGNA plan effective November 30, 2008 will result in termination of COBRA coverage for CIGNA plan participants effective on that date, as well as termination of coverage for the spouses/partners of retired shareholders insured through CIGNA effective on that date.

If you are insured under the CIGNA group health insurance plan you will receive a separate formal communication from the firm announcing the termination of the CIGNA coverage. That communication will also outline health insurance options available to you, including options potentially available to you for converting your CIGNA coverage to an individual policy, as well as options available to you under HIPAA (the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996).

The Kaiser group health insurance plan remains in force. We are not able to predict at this time whether or when that plan might terminate, but under the plan Kaiser is obligated to provide the firm with at least 30 days notice of its intent to terminate coverage. We will promptly advise all Kaiser participants in the event we receive such termination notice.

Retirement Plans

We are pleased to report that the work required to “unfreeze” the Heller Ehrman LLP 401(k) Retirement Savings and Profit Sharing Plan has been completed. You will be able to take a distribution from the Plan beginning Friday, October 31. With the exception of a small Vanguard record-keeping fee ($3.75), no costs or fees associated with the Plan have been assessed against participant accounts.

All participants are required to take a distribution by November 30. If you wish to pay off all or part of a loan before taking a distribution, please visit www.hellerehrman.com for the loan payoff form and instructions. You will receive a more formal announcement of this information from the Plan Administrator.

Health Benefits: COBRA, Spousal, Other or None?

Well folks we are counting down towards the end of the month and I know that health benefits are a number one priority right now.  I have heard from several ex-Hellerites who were thrown overboard that a letter was sent out listing COBRA rates.  I don’ t have a copy and would appreciate the exact details – I will update this post with the info.

What are the choices after 10/31?  Here is what I know:

COBRA: you can elect to sign up for COBRA benefits which I believe run for 18 months as long as you meet the payment deadline every month.  Once you miss a payment – BOOM! – you are dropped.  If you have a pre-existing condition COBRA is an option since you cannot be denied coverage.  Still, we have not heard from Heller on high if COBRA will even be offered.

Spousal: if your spouse or domestic partner can cover you on her/his current plan (and termination of your employment should qualify as a “life event” meaning you don’t need to wait for open enrollment and/or benefits to start on January 1st) then this is one way to be covered, especially if you have a pre-existing condition.  One inequity I should point out: domestic partner coverage has a catch and will cause your spouse to be taxed on extra imputed income at the end of the year.  Example:  if your partner pays $200 a month more to carry you on her benefits as a domestic partner, but the actual value of the benefit is $500, then at the end of the year your partner will see a 1099 or similar form for $300 ($500 value less $200 copay) per month of income.  Taxed at an average of 30%, this is a hefty “surprise” which is brought about by uneven tax laws (legally married vs. domestic partner).

Other:  basically you can seek out coverage on your own ($$$$), see if your state has a funded comprehensive healthcare program ($$$), check out one of the brokers we’ve recommended ($$) or take your chances without coverage ($ now, $$$$$$$ later).

-  check online for coverage by Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Kaiser Permanente, etc.  Realize that if you have any pre-existing condition you probably will not be approved.  From one reader comes this info: “I called AARP to see what they had.  Their general policies were expensive $291 and $338, but they also have lesser policies through United Health Care at $115 $76 and $48 a month.  AARP’s number is 1.800.272.2146 and United’s number is 800.272.2146.  You have to be a member of AARP to get any of these insurance policies. I also saw an ad on tv for health insurance at cinergyhealth.com  Their policy is $186 a month.”

- you can opt to participate in your state’s state funded comprehensive healthcare coverage.  This is for people with pre-existing conditions but it is expensive – even more than COBRA most times.  See Health Insurance – What You Should Know.

- check with a broker.  We’ve had good reports about Darin Wright who has been mentioned here at this site before.  One ex-Hellerite writes: “Just want to pass on that I met with Darin Wright – who was referred on the Heller blog.  I liked him, the group health insurance policy he worked out for me is better coverage, believe it or not, and less in premiums than the group coverage at Heller.  That has a lot to do with the size of the group  and the fact that I do not need certain types of coverage, but I do have a family to cover.  There is a medical pre-qualification – but that should not keep people from meeting with Darin.  He says there are certain preexisting conditions that are covered by the plan, but that means a higher premium. “

DARIN WRIGHT , M.A.
Mega Life and Health Insurance, a Healthmarkets company
www.healthmarkets.com
212 Jackson St.
San Jose, Ca.
510-289-3700 direct
e-mail: darin.wright@nase.org

- check out some of the various Health Families or Healthy Children programs in your area.  There are income level qualifications and I’m not sure that being unemployed will allow you to participate

- wing it and take your chances.  You will end up in the emergency room for treatments or perhaps some of the outpatient clinics you see at Wal-Mart or CVS.  Many of us of a “certain age” with prescriptions and pre-existing conditions can’t take these chances but if you are in between jobs, think you’ll pick something (like a job) or someone (like a domestic partner or spouse) up, then this might be your best bet.

Health Benefits – Costco Member Prescription Program

The next big battle being healthcare benefits, whether or not Heller will offer COBRA, etc. here is a good bit of news: if you are a Costco member, you may be able to get your prescriptions filled at a lower cost even if you do not have health insurance.

Here is a link to the program: http://www.envisionrx.com/costco/cmpp.aspx

A quote from the site: “The Costco Member Prescription Program is a new prescription savings program for you and your family. It allows Members who have no prescription drug insurance coverage to be the beneficiaries of Costco’s commitment to member service, value, quality and product confidence. Costco is committed to passing on savings to the members and are able to do that by monitoring expenses, taking lower markups, and now negotiating manufacturer/supplier discounts and passing those savings back to Costco members.”

You will need to have a written presciption so make sure you get that taken care of before 10/31/2008 when current medical benefits are scheduled to end.

Heller Drone
Cruise Director